Organizations such as on-line retailers, Internet service providers, search providers, financial institutions, universities, and other computing-intensive organizations often conduct computer operations from large scale computing facilities. Such computing facilities house and accommodate a large amount of server, network, and computer equipment to process, store, and exchange data as needed to carry out an organization's operations. Typically, a computer room of a computing facility includes many server racks. Each server rack, in turn, includes many servers and associated computer equipment.
Computer systems typically include a number of components that generate waste heat. Such components include printed circuit boards, mass storage devices, power supplies, and processors. For example, some computers with multiple processors may generate 250 watts of waste heat. Some known computer systems include a plurality of such larger, multiple-processor computers that are configured into rack-mounted components, and then are subsequently positioned within a rack computing system. Some known rack computing systems include 40 such rack-mounted components and such rack computing systems will therefore generate as much as 10 kilowatts of waste heat. Moreover, some known data centers include a plurality of such rack computing systems.
Some known data centers include methods and apparatus that facilitate waste heat removal from rack systems. Some waste heat removal systems remove waste heat from data centers by transferring waste heat to flows of air (“exhaust air”), which are then used to transport the waste heat to an environment external to the data center. Such an environment can include an ambient environment. Such methods and apparatus can include directing cooling air into an intake side of a rack in which computer systems are installed, through an interior of the rack so that the cooling air removes heat from heat-producing components of the computer systems, and is discharged from an opposite “exhaust end” of the rack as exhaust air to remove the heat from the rack.
In some cases, exhaust air can pass back from the exhaust end of the rack to the inlet end of the rack. Such “recirculation” of exhaust air may have a reduced capacity to remove heat relative to non-recirculated cooling air, and recirculated exhaust air on an inlet end of a rack may be recirculated through the rack. Such recirculation of exhaust air to the inlet end can establish a feedback loop which can lead to reduced heat removal from one or more computer systems in the rack, waste heat buildup in the rack, overheating, damage to computing components, etc. Such results can result in detrimental effects on computing capabilities of a data center.
Because a computing facility may contain a large number of servers, a large amount of connections may be required to operate the facility. For example, each server may require at least one power connection to receive operating power and at least one communication connection to be communicatively coupled with a communication network. A network of cabling, bus bars, connectors, etc., is used to couple each of the servers to respective power and communication systems. Ensuring such connections for each of the servers may require extensive expenditures of effort and resources. In addition, installing and uninstalling servers to such power and communication resources when mounted in a rack can be time consuming.
The amount of computing capacity needed for any given data center may change rapidly as business needs dictate. Most often, there is a need for increased computing capacity at a location. Initially providing computing capacity in a data center, or expanding the existing capacity of a data center (in the form of additional servers, for example), is resource-intensive and may take many months to implement. Substantial time and resources are typically required to design and build a data center (or expansion thereof), lay cables, install racks, enclosures, and cooling systems to implement waste heat removal therefrom. Additional time and resources are typically needed to conduct inspections and obtain certifications and approvals, such as for electrical systems.
The various embodiments described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. Specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.